


Secrets

by Zutarain123



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Awkward Romance, Basically, Ember Island (Avatar), F/M, It's not even the same fic anymore, Rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:22:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24331276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zutarain123/pseuds/Zutarain123
Summary: Zuko has kept his feelings about Katara bottled up for long enough. With help from Toph, he lets Katara know on the beaches of Ember Island.Rewrite of an old fic from FF of the same title.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 84





	Secrets

As the sun was setting on one of their more enjoyable days at the once empty beach house on Ember Island, Zuko was feeling anxious. Sitting around the table with everyone as Katara portioned out the dinner for the night, he knew that this anxiety was coming from more than just attempting to train Aang fully in firebending before the Comet came. And having to face this feeling for any longer was going to kill him. 

He knew he was in love with Katara. Well, maybe not love. But whatever it was, it was certainly romantic, and he cared about her and her wellbeing; he cared about the things that made her happy and wanted to keep her smiling. But, considering that they just recently had returned from finding Yon Rha and she was now just starting to accept him as a person, as an asset to their fight against the oppressive Fire Lord, he didn’t want to risk anything by telling her how he felt about her. The possibility of her reverting back to seeing him as the enemy, seeing his face whenever she thought of the evil they were fighting against, was holding him back.  
Talking about this would help, he thought. Secrets weren’t something that he was good with keeping and letting someone else in on this one would alleviate some anxiety. Hopefully. 

Though he had been on a “lifechanging” field trip basically with everyone but Toph, she was the one that he found himself the most comfortable talking with. They hadn’t had any major interactions individually before he tried to join their group (and burned her feet in the process), so she was a relatively blank slate when it came to him. She would judge him, but he accepted that. He also knew that she had no reasons to lie to him, so he could always expect the truth from her. 

Sokka was too close to the situation, too close to Katara, to have an unbiased opinion on his feelings. Suki was practically a stranger to him, one that he had done both terrible (burning her town down) and great (breaking people out of the Boiling Rock) things with. Zuko wasn’t sure how she would react to his problem, and there was really nothing for him to go off regarding the advice that she could give him. And then there was Aang…

Well, Aang was infatuated with Katara. Anyone could see it plain as day. Maybe not Katara, as she did not seem to be affected by the way that he gazed at her, as if she was the sun. All the stars in Aang’s sky would never be as beautiful and awesome as the Katara he had built in his mind. He was definitely not someone that Zuko could discuss his own Katara-related woes with. Especially when she was so unattached, wherein both boys might have a chance with her. 

Zuko’s want to reduce his angst had been ever present in the back of his mind for a few days, so he had intentionally sat himself down next to Toph at this particular dinner, with no one on his other side. When dinner was served and the conversation was rolling along, he discreetly turned to Toph, betting on her being able to sense that he was talking to just her with his nearly imperceptible movement. 

“Toph, I need help.”

“Whaddya need, Sparky?” Toph replied, thankfully matching his low volume, keeping her torso facing the table, making her appear engaged to the dinner conversation.   
“I have been having an…issue. A personal one.” Zuko was beginning to think that this was a bad idea. He did not realize how uncomfortable speaking about his feelings were, even if he wasn’t talking to the person that those feelings were about. 

“Do you mean how your heart rate spikes whenever Katara looks at you?” She smirked. “Or when she walks in the room? Or someone says her name? There it goes, faster than an armadillo bear when it smells fresh meat.”

“Yes,” Zuko said through clenched teeth. “It’s about that. I want to talk to her about it. Do you think I should?” 

“Why not?”

“Well, she just started treating me like a member of the group, not like an outsider. We all know how Aang feels. And what if she doesn’t feel the same? What if I tell her and she is disgusted?” Zuko was getting more and more anxious about everything.

“Or worse, if she laughs.”

“That is not helpful,” he shot her a glare, to no avail because her clouded eyes couldn’t see it. But hopefully she could feel the distaste rolling off him. 

“Look, Sparky. We’ve only got so much time before the Fire Lord tries to complete his world conquest. If you like the girl, you need to talk to her.” Toph seemed to visibly soften. “If you don’t do it now, it could be too late. Because of the war, or because of…” She trailed off, turning her head, and giving a small nod towards Aang. 

“You’re right” Zuko sighed. “If not now, then it’s never.” Toph gave him a small smile, then laughed loudly at something Sokka had said, ending their private conversation and rejoining the group. 

Zuko spent the rest of dinner not really paying attention to anyone, stuck in his head. He was trying to find all the right words to say. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t find any of them before dinner was finished and dishes were being cleared. 

"Hey Katara," Zuko said, rubbing the back of his neck, following her into the kitchen. "Can I talk to you for a second? Alone?"

"Yeah, I need to wash the dishes though." Katara said, piling the dirty dishes into the sink. “If you want to give me a hand, we can talk now.”

"It's okay Sugar Queen. Twinkle toes and I can do the dishes this time." Toph yanked Aang along into the kitchen, allowing Zuko and Katara to have the reprieve that they needed. 

“But Toph, you can’t even see which dishes are clean and which still have food on them!” Aang gaped at her. 

“Well, you better do a good job at cleaning them then, or else doing dishes will turn into an earthbending practice real fast.” Zuko swore he saw Toph wink as he and Katara left the kitchen, faintly hearing the unmistakable sound of a rock hitting flesh as they walked out of earshot. 

They meandered down to the beach. It was dark now, so they stayed near the beach house, but still far enough away that no one should have been able to hear their conversation.   
"Okay, what did you want to talk about?" Katara turned towards Zuko, wrapping her arms around herself as a slight breeze came over the beach.

"Um, well I just, uh, wanted to, um, thank you for, uh, letting me join your group, because I wouldn't, um, have been able to, uh, train Aang any other way. That uh, would have been bad because then he wouldn’t be um, completely ready to face the uh Melon Lord, I mean the Fire Lord before the comet?" Zuko seemed to be just as confused as Katara was about the words that were coming out of his mouth. 

She wasn’t quite sure how to respond. “No problem, Zuko. Though we have had a troubled past, you really have shown that you are the best person to teach Aang fire bending.” She went quiet, waiting to see if Zuko had more to say to her. He had turned away, so he was no longer meeting her eyes. “Is there anything else you wanted to talk about? I don’t see why we needed to be alone for you to say that.” She giggled quietly, trying to relieve some of the tension that was building up. 

Zuko took a deep breath and words came spewing out before he could coherently form what he wanted to say. "Katara, I-I think I'm in love with you. You’re so brave and kind and courageous and considerate and beautiful. I know we got off on the wrong foot, especially considering what happened in Ba Sing Se. I want to apologize for that, for ruining everything that could have been had I not betrayed you. I think that you are amazing, and I needed to tell you this because I don’t know how much time we have left. The comet is coming so soon, and I needed to tell you this because what if we die? What if we don’t come bac-,“Zuko was cut off.

Katara put her lips against his soft ones, to quiet him and because she's wanted to do it for so long. Zuko was shocked and tense at first, then he relaxed and leaned into the kiss more.

When they finally pulled away, because of the need for air, Katara said, "I think love you too. I don’t know what’s going to happen once that comet comes around, but I’m glad that you’re here now, with me" Zuko smiled and kissed her again. They held onto that kiss for a long minute.

"GET SOME SPARKY!" This exclamation came from one of the kitchen windows. Zuko and Katara jumped apart, both blushing. No, neither of them knew how the next few weeks would end. But, they had that time to make the most of, together.


End file.
